


Of Snowmen and N7 Sweaters

by SerStolas



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Christmas Fluff, F/M, Snowmen, Ugly Holiday Sweaters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-14
Updated: 2016-11-14
Packaged: 2018-08-30 22:46:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8552368
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SerStolas/pseuds/SerStolas
Summary: Snowmen, N7 Holiday Sweaters, and Rings.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Of Snowmen and N7 Sweaters  
> A Mass Effect Fan Fic  
> Pairing: Kaidan Alenko/FShep (Colonist/Ruthless)  
> Post ME3/Destroy Choice/  
> Disclaimer: Bioware owns Mass Effect  
> I know it is way too early for winter holiday stuff. I blame this on a spouse that's already streaming Christmas music, Bioware's N7 holiday sweaters, and discovering that alcoholic sparkling water is a thing. Also, I am a Shenko fanatic with multiple Shepards, as you have probably guessed by now.

Shepard hadn't celebrated Christmas since Mindoir had been attacked only a few weeks after the holiday and she'd lost her family.

With people of so many different kinds of heritage, religions, and upbringings in the Alliance, it had been fairly easy to skip out on holiday celebrations. She knew Kaidan celebrated the holiday, he'd talked about his plans to go visit his family before the SR1 had been destroyed, but she'd never actually seen him celebrate it.

Kaidan had mentioned it once, during their fight with the Reapers, not long after their meeting at Apollos where the two of them had actually admitted to each other they'd had feelings for each other all along, and he'd said he wanted to take her to visit his family's orchard during Christmas one year. At the time she'd deflected. Their relationship had still been so new. They'd served together for so long, but neither of them had admitted anything on the first Normandy, and it took staring down the barrel of each other's guns during a Cerberus coupe for either of them to actually realize what they felt for each other wasn't just friendship.

The first Christmas after the defeat of the Reapers, she'd still been in the hospital, barely conscious, and hooked up to so many machines no one had ventured the subject with her. But now, the second Christmas after the Reapers and almost two years after the war, Kaidan wanted to take her to meet his family.

And she was afraid, of Christmas. She'd died, been resurrected, defeated the Collectors, held as a traitor by the Alliance, and then saved the galaxy from the Reapers. But the thought of celebrating a holiday she hadn't celebrated in 17 years scared her.

The night before they London for Vancouver, Shepard finally broke down and told Kaidan why she'd always avoided the holiday. He knew about Mindoir, he knew about her family, but he'd never known how close to the holiday the attack had been.

He'd offered to cancel the whole damned trip, and it made her feel guilty for holding it in so long. Instead, they'd agreed that Kaidan would try and help her make new memories.

 

So here they were in the countryside of British Columbia, taking a shuttle to the Alenko's orchard. She sat staring out the window at the snow covered countryside, her eyes wide. Mindoir had never had snow at Christmas time. She and her parents had lived in a fairly warm part of the planet, so she hadn't grown up around snow.

Kaidan smiled at her and squeezed her hand. “If you're this fascinated by snow, I'll have to take you out to build a snowman while we're out here.”

Shepard turned to him and tilted her head. “What is a snowman?” she asked.

Kaidan blinked in surprise. “You've never heard of a snowman?” he asked.

Shepard shook her head. “Nope. We didn't have snow on Mindoir.”

He pulled out his datapad and scrolled through a few screens, then the strains of some old earth song started playing. Shepard listened to the song and found herself humming it after a few bars. As it ended, she tilted her head.

“That sounds like..fun,” she decided.

Kaidan smiled. “Then we will build a snowman, and wear ugly Christmas sweaters.”

He had warned her about his family's obsession with sweaters. Shepard had made sure to pack at least one sweater since Kaidan insisted it was so important. Despite all her bad memories, she wanted this to go well.

Shepard grumbled at the alarm that blared to life at 06:00 hours. It was too early to get up yet. She shut off the alarm and rolled back over, cuddling closer to Kaidan and stealing his warmth.

“Your feet are cold,” he grumbled as she started stealing the covers.

“Its cold here,” she replied back, pressing her feet against his legs.

“Well there is snow outside,” Kaidan replied lightly. “I'm just glad Mom had a coat you could borrow.”

Shepard had been unprepared for the cold of British Columbia in the winter. After Mindoir, she had spent most of her life on Alliance vessels and was used to temperature controls. Thankfully Elena Alenko was about the same size as Joanna Shepard, and quickly provided a thick winter coat to keep Shepard warm, as well as scarf, hat, and gloves.

“So am I,” Shepard replied. She glanced back at the clock and sighed. “I don't think I'm going to be able to get back to sleep now,” she murmured.

Kaidan smiled at her. “Then in that case..” and he pulled her on top of him under the covers, kissing her firmly.

Later that morning, after they'd both showered in the ensuite bathroom (the Alenkos had added it when they'd rebuilt after the war), Shepard as pulling on her jeans and a t-shirt, then dug through her suitcase to find the sweaters she'd bought for the trip.

Kaidan was already wearing a hideous green sweater with Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, another Christmas song, Shepard had discovered, emblazoned across the chest.

“So what did you pack?” Kaidan asked curiously as he stepped out of the bathroom, running a final comb through his hair. Shepard was convinced he would always be vain about his hair, even when it went completely gray.

Shepard pulled out a black sweater with two rows of snowflakes across the chest. In between the two rows of snowflakes.

It wasn't the snowflakes that made Kaidan groan...now, it was the N7 logo stitched in between the two rows of snowflakes that made him groan. “Really...Shepard? An N7 Christmas sweater?”

“What's wrong with it?” she demanded as she slipped the sweater over her head. She glanced at herself in the dresser mirror then. “I'll admit it's not as ugly as yours, though.”

“Do you own anything that isn't emblazoned with N7, or at least in N7 colors?” Kaidan asked, trying to hide his smile.

“Only the Alliance t-shirts and hoodies I've stolen from you,” Shepard replied with a grin. “Come on, you promised me snowmen.”

“Coffee first!” Kaidan protested.

“Fine, coffee, first, but then snowmen!” Shepard insisted.

After coffee, and after they'd bundled up in coats and winter gear, Kaidan and Shepard went trudging into the front yard of the Alenko's house. Shepard kept moving until she found what she thought would be the perfect spot for a snowman.

“Alright, how do we start?” she asked, peering at Kaidan.

He showed her how to make a ball and roll it around in the snow until you got it to the right size. The first one she made they deemed too small for the base, but it would work well as a center piece. The second snowball was so large that they decided the first would be the head.

Finally, the three snowballs were complete. Shepard positioned the largest one in just the right spot and Kaidan's hand flared, lifting the second ball in the air and depositing it gently down on the first. Shepard whistled in appreciation. “Fine talent there, Major,” she replied. She repeated the act with the third snowball and a Lift of her own.

Kaidan laughed. “No so bad yourself there, Captain,” he replied. “Now,” he fished two pieces of charcoal and an old pipe out of the pocket of his snowpants. Shepard pulled out the buttons and carefully put them into place. She'd insisted they make the snowman in the same fashion the song Frost the Snowman had described.

As they worked, Shepard began singing another Christmas song she'd overheard on the radio at dinner the night before. “Sleigh bells ring, are you listening, in the lane, snow is glistening...”

Kaidan began to hum the song with her as she sang. While Shepard couldn't dance to save her life, she had a passable singing voice.

Shepard took a step back to admire their work as she continued singing Walking in a Winter Wonderland. “In the meadow we can build a snowman, and pretend that he is Parson Brown. He'll say are you married, we'll say no man, but you can do the jo-”

Shepard's words were cut off Kaidan placed something in her field of view.

Inside the small black box sat a white gold ring with a princess cut ruby, flanked by smaller onyx stones on either side.

“What do you think, Shepard, shall we find a Parson Brown to marry us?” Kaidan asked in his warm voice his whiskey colored eyes holding hers.

Shepard slowly reached a gloved hand out and took the box, a shy smile breaking over her lips.

“I'd like that,” she said. “If you'll have me, Kaidan.”

Kaidan wrapped his arms around her and kissed her soundly. “I would have you at my side all the days of ours lives, Joanna Shepard,” he replied.

Joanna removed her left glove and Kaidan took the ring from the box, sliding it onto her left ring finger. The two of them admired it for a moment before she slipped her glove on over the ring, and Shepard grinned. “Let's build two more snowmen,” she said. “A bride and a groom.”

“That,” Kaidan said, “Sounds like a fantastic idea.”


End file.
